Small Jet Skids Into Warehouse
# 14 Hurt In New Jersey Plane Crash
# Aircraft Was Heading To Chicago

Feb 2, 2005 3:11 pm US/Pacific
TETERBORO, N.J. (CBS) A small jet skidded off a 6,000-foot runway at Teterboro Airport in northern New Jersey on Wednesday, crossing a highway during the morning rush hour and slamming into a building.

The most serious injury aboard the plane was the co-pilot's broken leg, New Jersey Acting Gov. Richard Codey told WCBS-AM. Two motorists on U.S. Route 46 suffered head trauma, but were expected to survive. Codey said he knew of no fatalities.

WCBS-AM reporter Peter Haskell reports the pilot had only minor injuries and was expected to be released later Wednesday. A flight attendant was listed in stable condition. A passenger in one of the cars struck was also injured.

Twelve people plus a crew of two were aboard the jet. Route 46 is a major rush-hour thoroughfare into New York City, about 12 miles away.

Teterboro Airport, 12 miles from Manhattan, handles corporate flights and some general aviation, and is considered one of the nation's busiest small airports. Teterboro itself has few residents. It is mostly the airport and industrial buildings.

Jets using the airport often pass right above the highway.

WCBS Radio helicopter traffic reporter Tom Kaminsky said the plane broke through a fence separating the airport from the busy highway. A portion of the fence was in the middle of the adjacent highway.

Television reports showed smoke billowing from the building, and the nose of the jet remained embedded inside the building hours after the 7:23 a.m. accident.

FAA spokesman Greg Martin described the aircraft as a twin-engine Canadair, Challenger 600, "a type of small regional business/charter jet," which can carry 12 to 15 passengers.

That model has been involved in two previous accidents, business aircraft accident analyst Robert Breiling told WCBS-AM. One was in Manchester, England, killing five people, and another last year in Colorado.

Luis Ortega's wife was one of the employees in the building when the jet hit it at 7:23 a.m. She called him from outside.

"Everybody was just running out of the building," Ortega told WCBS' Paul Murnane. She said everybody is out of the building, but the jet hit the company's shipping department.

There was no immediate word on injuries on the jet, registered to a company called 448 Alliance LLC in Dallas. It was on its way to Chicago's Midway Airport, with 12 people aboard.

Route 46 was closed in both directions, as were the airport and a nearby county technical high school.

That last photo shows the three westbound lanes of 46. There are also three eastbound lanes not visible, on the other side of the grassy area seen in the lower right corner. Route 46 is a high traffic, 55 mph highway.